Friday, July 4, 2014

Christmas TV Party 2014: Drew Flowers of Christmas Movies and Music Yahoo Group

1) What is the first Christmas special you remember watching?Wow, there are so many great specials that come to mind from my childhood. I think if there is one that comes to mind as the first Christmas special would be A Charlie Brown Christmas. I remember seeing the Peanuts crew skating and hearing "Christmas Time is Here" and getting so excited as a little kid. The holidays were for real when that scene hit the TV!!! I also remember the old CBS logo and sound to alert you of a special being aired.

2) Name one Christmas program/movie you enjoy watching all year round.
It's a common choice, but It's A Wonderful Life is watched every year. It's a requirement every December. Every time I hear those church bells in the beginning of the movie for Liberty Films, I know I am in for a wonderful film.

3) Name one overlooked, or under-appreciated Christmas program.
WOW, plenty to list here but I am going to go with a movie from the 1980's called Santa Claus: The Movie with David Huddleston and Dudley Moore. It was highly popular at its release but has not aged well at all. I felt the beginning of the movie was very strong going into the prophecy of Santa Claus arriving and how he came about. I would love to see this special get more airtime during the month of December.

5) What are your 3 favorite Christmas episodes of a TV sitcom or drama?I rather enjoyed the Family Ties episode where Michael Keaton ( Michael J Fox) portrayed Scrooge and then on Christmas morning, gets everyone gifts from a pharmacy that was open. I am going to go with a TV special from 1960 called "Night of the Meek" which was a Twilight Zone episode. I get choked up every time I hear Art Carney give his speech/lecture to the store owner. He really brings out the meaning of the holiday and lastly, a Frazier episode where he leaves his wallet at home and the people in the diner pay for him. There are probably 100 more I can bring up but I will go with those three.

7 comments:

Great choices from Andrew! I still remember the excitement that was built up around the time Santa Claus The Movie came out. It was a very magical movie to me as a kid and I often wondered why it was sort of forgotten for a long time. Looking at it now I see some aspects have not dated well, but it's built a following, which I think is largely based on David Huddleston's performance as Santa. I still love to watch all the scenes at the North Pole too as it looks the way you imagine it as a child.

FYI - "Night Of The Meek" is one of the six episodes from the entire run of "The Twilight Zone" that was shot on videotape, not film.

And according to my trusty, dogeared copy of "The Twilight Zone Companion", a fan who was enraged at the "blasphemy" of presenting a drunk as Santa sent letters to Rod Serling, the CBS network, and several big city newspapers!

I agree with everyone who said these are terrific choices, Drew. I am not as big a fan of Santa Claus The Movie as you but David Huddleston is wonderful, as he was in every role he played. One of our best character actors. And I of course agree about the Family Ties episode--it's so cute when Alex turns up with his last minute gifts from 7-Eleven!